Tuesday, January 02, 2007

RAIDERS ON THE CLOCK

The Oakland Raiders will have the top pick at the 2007 draft which for the record is just 118 days away. The Raiders finished a miserable season losing 23-3 to the Jets this afternoon to drop to 2-14. That combined with a stunning win by Detroit gives the Raiders the #1 pick at this April's draft. Detroit would have ended up with #1 pick had they lost but stunned the Cowboys 39-31 right in Dallas. Meanwhile, Cleveland and Tampa Bay, both of whom had 4-12 records, will have the 3rd and 4th picks. The two teams' opponents actually had the same winning record, however, it is our understanding in such a case that any head-to-head games are used to decide the tie-break and the Buccaneers and Browns did play earlier in the year with Tampa Bay winning 22-7. As such we believe that should give the Browns the 3rd pick and the Buccaneers but we will try and confirm ASAP. Otherwise the two picks would be decided by a coin flip. No question though that Arizona will pick 5th, Washington 6th, Minnesota 7th with Houston, Miami and Atlanta rounding out the top 10.

* to be decided by coin flip
P final position to be determined by playoffs

1 Oakland
2 Detroit
*3 Cleveland
*4 Tampa Bay
5 Arizona
6 Washington
7 Minnesota
8 Houston
9 Miami
10 Atlanta
11 San Francisco
12 Buffalo
13 St. Louis
14 Carolina
15 Pittsburgh
16 Green Bay
17 Jacksonville
18 Cincinnati
19 Tennessee
P20 New York Giants
21 Denver
P22 New England (from Seattle)
P23 Dallas
P24 Kansas City
P25 New Orleans
P26 New York Jets
P27 Philadelphia
P28 New England
P29 Indianapolis
P30 Baltimore
P31 Chicago
P32 San Diego

While the New Year's Day bowls games are in the books, there are still a couple of games to go before we get to next week's BCS title game. Tonight its David versus Goliath as Wake Forest plays Louisville in the Orange Bowl.....


January 2

Orange Bowl, Miami; 8 PM ET; Fox

Louisville (11-1) vs Wake Forest (11-2)

The big question at the Orange Bow, other than whether Wake Forest can hang with one of the nation’s elite programs, is whether this is the final college game for Louisville junior QB Brian Brohm (#12, 6-4, 225), a potential top 5-10 pick if he opts to leave school early and enter the 2007 draft. And Brohm hopes to put a ‘number’ on the board against Wake Forest as a challenge for QBs Brady Quinn of Notre Dame and LSU junior Jamarcus Russell, the other top two QB prospects for the upcoming draft, when they battle against each other in the Sugar Bowl on Wednesday. Brohm is a prototype pro passer with good size, a strong arm and great pocket awareness. Brohm has an intriguing target in rangy sophomore WR Mario Urrittia (#7, 6-6, 230) who is draft eligible after redshirting as a true freshman. And even without star RB Michael Bush who is out for the year with a broken leg, Louisville has a pretty good running game featuring underrated RB Kolby Smith (#33, 5-10, 235) and sophomore RB George Stripling (#30, 5-11, 195). They run behind a huge offensive linemen anchored by veteran OG Kurt Quarteman (#76, 6-5, 335) and OT Renardo Foster (#79, 6-6, 325). The Louisville defense doesn’t get the press that the offensive but is very good in its own right, but stumpy NT Amobi Okoye (#91, 6-0, 315) is an emerging draft star in his own right; Okoye anchors a unit which also includes active LBs Nate Harris (#10, 6-0, 235) and Abe Brown (#43, 6-3, 235) and DBs William Gay (#21, 5-11, 185), a speedy cover corner, and safety Brandon Sharp (#35, 5-11, 200).

Wake Forest, of course, has been the best story in college football as the Demon Deacons, not known as anything close to a national power, has rolled to a 11 win season and a spot in the BCS while traditional ACC powers Miami, Florida State, Virginia Tech and Clemson watch from home. And Wake Forest has at least one top prospect for the upcoming draft in safety Josh Gattis (#22, 6-0, 215), while fellow safety Patrick Ghee (#30, 6-0, 210) and veteran OT Steve Vallos (#6-3, 295) are also solid. The Demon Deacons best prospect, though, may be junior MLB Jon Abbate (#40, 5-11, 245), who is a little on the short, but is a good athlete who can find the ball and deliver a pop when he gets there.....


Miami junior TE Greg Olsen will be entering the 2007 draft. Agent Drew Rosenhaus announced Olsen's decision one day after the Hurricanes completed their season by beating Nevada 21-20 in the MPC Computers Bowl. Olsen is rated as one of the top 1-2 TE prospects in this year's draft and is a possible late first- or early second-round pick this April.....

Gerogia juniors DE Charles Johnson and RB Danny Ware are both reportedly entering the 2007 draft. The 6-2, 265 Johnson led Georgia with 9.5 sacks, including two in Saturday's bowl game, and in fact often outplayed teammate DE Quentin Moses who is expected to be one of the first defensive players off the board at the upcoming drfat. Ware, meanwhile, was a reserve with the Bulldogs. Georgia is also awaiting word from junior CB Paul Oliver as to whether he will be following Johnson and Ware into this year’s draft.

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